


Library of Wonders

by Master_Magician



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-09 23:07:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8916643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Master_Magician/pseuds/Master_Magician
Summary: The Library in insanely old, so naturally there are all kinds of strange things lying about. There's no telling what the librarians might find, or what might find them.





	1. Spiders

**Author's Note:**

> Been wanting to do something new for Librarians, finally came upon the idea for this one-shot collection after rewatching a few episodes, plus that scene when Jenkins and Flynn reveal they keep a sun in the sun room. Kinda made me wonder- what else is lurking in the library? Each will be roughly independent of each other.
> 
> This particular chapter was inspired by one of my favorite funny scenes from the beginning of the episode And the Cost of Education. Just read the title, you will know exactly which scene.
> 
> Enjoy.

"Come on, it can't be that bad, Stone."

"Jones, you didn't see them. It's that bad." Jake eyed the hallway that was their goal, not unlike one would do if there was some horrible monster lurking.

Oh wait… there was one!

"All we have to do is pop a few of these babies off and we're good." Jones shot back, brandishing the cans Jenkins had given them.

"Yeah sure, but you gotta actually get into the room to do it!" Jake wasn't a coward by no measure. But this was something he really, really didn't want to do or go near. Minotaurs, evil cultists, dragons even, sure those were fine. But not this, no sir.

"I don't believe it, Jacob Stone, bar fight master and librarian is afraid of a few bugs!" Jones degenerated into a fit of howling laughter at Jake's expense.

"Numbers ain't part of the problem!"

"You're still chicken."

There was a time Jake would have not taken that lying down, but this was Jones. Taking it personally would be just playing into the thief's hands. Jones really didn't need the ego boost.

"What's going on guys?" Of course, Cassandra had to choose now to appear. Jake may not care about how he looks in front of his fellow librarians, but that didn't mean he wanted to look bad in front of their female colleague.

"Stone here is afraid of a few bugs sitting pretty in the occult section. Won't go near it." Jones answered before Jake could open his mouth. "Jenkins wants us to bug blast them."

"I didn't say I was afraid of them!" Jake resisted the urge to smack Jones in the back of the head with one of their cans. "I just said we need to be careful going in. These are not ordinary spiders."

"Or we can go in guns blazing." Jones brandished a can in each hand. "Piece of cake."

Jake was about to say more, but Jones wasn't listening and instead walked off toward the occult section. Both cans up like he was playing a video game, and not a look back.

"Oh boy, this is not gonna end well." Jake cringed.

"Why's that?" Cassandra tilted her head slightly to turn her gaze on Jake.

"Well, he didn't give me a chance to explain. You see the spiders…"

A loud shriek cut Jake off, followed quickly by one Ezekiel Jones sprinting down the hallway at full speed. He would have barreled right into Cassandra had Jake not seized the redhead by the hips to pull her aside. Jones didn't even say a word to his coworkers, he just kept running until he disappeared from sight.

Jake rolled his eyes. "Tried to warn him, not ordinary spiders."

"I know they're big, but that shouldn't be that big a deal." Cassandra watched their friend flee in utter bewilderment. "It takes quite a bit to scare Ezekiel."

"What part of 'not ordinary spiders' is nobody getting?" Jake pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Hmm…" Cassandra started off toward the way Jones ran from.

"Uh, Cassie? Whatcha doing?"

"I want to see these spiders for myself."

Jake groaned as loud as he could without Cassandra hearing it. Curse his southern gentlemanly ways… he couldn't possibly let her go by herself.

It didn't take long for the pair to reach the door that led to their destination. The infestation had been confined to a few shelves the last time Jake had seen it, but he had a sneaky feeling it had grown. Fortunately, it was in a room with a door. As long as the door was left closed, the spiders could spread only so far.

Before Jake could warn her, Cassandra took hold of the knob and flung the door open.

The first thing to greet them was an almost literal wall of webbing. Jake could barely gaze past it to see the whole room was indeed covered in the sticky substance. Just like he thought, they had indeed spread out from the occult section, but were confined to the one room.

"Wow." Cassandra tried to look around the room without poking her head in. "Little guys' have been busy."

Next thing they knew, a single lone spider slowly lowered from the ceiling to hang midair in front of them. The arachnid was easily three times the size of a basketball, but that wasn't the truly weird part.

"MMMM… THIS ONE LOOKS TASTY." The spider croaked out.

Jake didn't hesitate to slam the door shut.

"Did… that spider just talk?" Cassandra meanwhile looked like she'd been slapped silly.

"Yup."

Cassandra reopened the door to the sound of a different spider talking. "I WANT THE RED ONE!"

Jake couldn't shove the door shut fast enough.

"And they… want to eat us?" Cassandra was still staring at the sealed portal.

"Yup."

"We must have misheard." For reasons Jake could not fathom, Cassandra opened the door again. He certainly knew they were hearing just fine.

"FRESH MEAT! FRESH MEAT!" Came the chorus of sounds behind the spider. It was hard for Jake to tell, but there must have been at least a dozen of the critters hidden about.

Jake slammed the door shut yet again, while Cassandra's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

Truth be told, talking and man eating spiders didn't really rank very high on Jake's strange-meter. If they were nesting in the library, they had to be magic in nature. As if the size wasn't enough of a giveaway. Jake could really do without the eating people part, but hey, this was the library. Occupational hazard as per usual.

"So how are we supposed to get them out?" Cassandra finally took her eyes off the door to face Jake.

"That's what I was trying to tell Jones." Jake sighed. "We need to come up with a plan."

"Wait, I have an idea." Jake wanted to yell when Cassandra opened the door for the third time. "Uhh… Mr. Spiders?"

"YES?" Came the multiple voices from within.

"Any chance we can get you to leave the library?" Cassandra meekly asked. "Maybe go someplace a bit nicer?"

"SURE." One spider answered.

Cassandra looked delighted. "Really?"

"YEAH." A different spider spoke up. "JUST COME IN HERE SO WE CAN MAKE THE DEAL OFFICIAL."

Cassandra's face instantly fell before turning to horror.

"Just you wait." This time Jake kicked the wooden barrier closed, probably a bit harder than he should have, before yelling through the closed door. "You're gonna to get it."

A chorus of muffled laughter exploded from the room.

"Stupid spiders." Jake grumbled.

"We… may need to get Jenkins." Cassandra took a step or two, maybe three, away from the door. "What exactly did he give you guys anyway?"

"These." Jake produced the two cans from his jacket pocket. Jones had taken the other two in his flight. "Kinda like bug bombs, but made just for spiders. If Jenkins got them for giant spiders, hopefully they're magic."

"Can't we just set it off then throw it in?" Cassandra suggested. "Like a grenade or something?"

Jake bit back his laugh. "That sounds like something Jones would say, but no. I don't think that would work." At Cassandra's look, he continued. "Too much webbing, I don't think it would get far enough in."

"Do we need all four?"

"Don't think so." Jake glanced over the can, before turning back to the room. "Place isn't that big, one ought to be enough. Just got to get it in there without getting munched on."

"Maybe we could… no that wouldn't work. What about… no, not that either." Cassandra droned on and on, running through all kinds of scenario's in her head while she waved her hands about in the air. Jake let the redhead think while we considered all the possibilities himself.

Eh screw it, they had the extra.

"Cassie, grab the door." Jake's voice snapped Cassandra from her hallucination. Seeming to understand the gist of his intentions, Cassandra took hold of the door and stood to the side while Jake stood opposite her.

Cassandra had just opened the door when a yell from the hallway caught their attention.

"Comin' through!" Jones dashed right toward them at full sprint. He was so fast that it took Jake a few seconds to process what he was watching. The first was that Jones was now wearing the heat suit they'd used to save New York, the second was that their resident thief was holding a can in each hand with the tops already popped and spraying.

The final thing, Jake didn't catch until it had already happened.

"Leroy Jenkins!" Jones shouted to the top of his lungs as he dashed into the room, with his speed the webbing in the way didn't even slow him down. The first spider, whom was still hanging in the doorway, bounced off the impromptu armor with a yell of its own. A litany of shouts from the spiders echoed all over the room as the things scurried away in every direction.

"Did he just…" Cassandra was just as floored as Jake was, but she recovered quickly. Surprise gave way to terror. "Ezekiel!"

"For gods' sake Jones!" Jake roared and, before he even realized he was doing it, dove in after their friend.


	2. Knights of the Round

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's going to be a bit less funny and more serious. Inspiration came from thinking about Jenkins real name and history. And the fact that a room like this one probably is in the Library.
> 
> Enjoy.

It was a quiet night in the Library when Cassandra found herself traveling among the packed shelves. She had no real destination in mind, no goal.

Their last mission had been a little trying, but nothing they couldn't handle. Everyone else surely had gone home by now, but not Cassandra. Instead, she'd showered and changed into her spare set of clothes but didn't want to go home to her lonely apartment. She just felt too… restless.

The last time the redhead had felt like this, she'd looked around the Library for a time until she grew too tired and headed back. The place was so large, so filled with various things, that she wondered if a person could see it all in one lifetime.

Cassandra's meandering feet eventually led her to a strange door. It was old, ancient even, but within the Library it was well preserved. The green paint was long faded, but something was written into the wood. Cassandra found herself wishing Jake was here with her, he might know what it said, or at least the language.

Curiosity got the better of her, and Cassandra found herself reaching for the knob. Contact with the metal did nothing, it felt like any ordinary doorknob. Memories came back of Flynn searching for the Sun Room, he made several mistakes before finding the right one. Land of Frozen Giants and Hive of Giant Bees being some of the highlights.

The handle didn't burn her, so that was a good sign. Maybe she could just open it really quick and peek in to make sure it was nothing dangerous.

Opening the wooden door a crack did nothing at first, until Cassandra tried to glance inside. A flash of light caught her eyes, but before she could shut the door she noticed it was just torches lining the walls igniting into life.

Now that Cassandra could see inside, she could tell there was nothing outright threatening. Opening the door the rest of the way, the redhead slipped inside. She had to remind herself that as Librarian, she could go mostly where she wanted. There were only a handful of places off limits, and were that way for a reason.

The room itself was like something right out of a European castle. The floor and walls were made of etched and blocked stone, almost like it had been taken from a castle somewhere. The orange glow of the torches was not the best type of light source, but it allowed Cassandra to actually see what was stored in here.

The most prominent feature was the huge circular table in the dead center of the room. Cassandra was far from an expert on furniture, but something about it gave off a weird vibe. Then again, it is being stored in the Library so it must be special somehow, or perhaps it was the armor suits around it.

There were twelve in total, each stood around the table in perfect distance from each other. Much like the numbers of a clock. Most of the armor looked like they used the same basic design, but each had a few modifications to make it a little more unique.

The most obvious one was the one opposite Cassandra at the 12 position, it was trimmed in bright shiny gold that seemed to glow in the light of the torches. Also unlike the other armors, the golden one was missing its weapon. The other suits held a sword before them stuck into the ground, their hands atop each other over the pommels.

Then there was the suit at the 11 spot. At least Cassandra assumed it was another suit of armor. It was hard to tell because somebody had draped a black sheet over it.

Cassandra had just stepped closer to the nearest suit for a more detailed examination when the voice from the doorway startled her. "Ah, I wondered if one of you would find this place."

"Oh Jenkins! I didn't hear you there." Cassandra tried to laugh it off but something wasn't right. Yes she was a librarian, but something about this room and Jenkins presence had Cassandra feeling like she didn't belong. Like she was trespassing. "Did you need something?"

"Not at all Miss Cillian." Jenkins offered a small smile, but it was not lost of Cassandra how he hovered outside the room. Almost as if he couldn't enter, or didn't want to. "Honestly I'm surprised it was you who found this place. I would have thought Mister Carson to beat you to it."

"Why would Flynn find it before me?" Cassandra turned her gaze all over the room, it felt like she was missing something.

"Well Excalibur did sleep in here for the longest time." Jenkins looked over at the words carved into the door, but Cassandra had been floored by that one statement.

If Excalibur slept in here, he must be the missing sword. But if this was Excalibur's room then…

"Jenkins, what does that door say?" Cassandra tried to keep her voice as steady as possible.

Jenkins took in a breath." It says, Knights of the Round."

Cassandra's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. 'So this is…"

"Yes." Jenkins confirmed with a single word.

It was something unspoken, a silent agreement, among the librarians about just who Jenkins really was. They sort of knew after the near disaster that was the Loom of Fate, but it was not something they ever spoke about. The few times it was even brought up in the slightest bit, Jenkins would grow dismissive. He would never get angry, part of Cassandra wondered if the old caretaker could get angry, but it was obviously a sore spot.

Now here Cassandra stood, right in the center by complete accident.

"Umm… I should probably…" Cassandra almost couldn't form words. She suddenly had a profound desire to escape as fast as possible.

But Jenkins stopped her with a raised hand. "No need to flee Miss Cillian." The older man looked at the floor for a long moment before he stepped across the threshold and into the room itself. "You're already here after all."

Cassandra did not have a clue what to say at a time like this. There was so much she wanted to ask, so much she wanted to know. And that desire to run away probably wasn't going away any time soon.

"You know it's been many hundreds of years since I set foot into here?" Jenkins looked at Cassandra from the corner of his eye as he stepped closer to the table. "I didn't think I ever would again."

"Which one is you?" Cassandra instantly slapped her hands over her mouth but the question had already escaped.

Cassandra expected some kind of unpleasant reaction. But instead Jenkins just pointed to the suit of armor at the 1 position. "That one."

"You're seated next to…" Cassandra couldn't help it, her voice was not wanting to cooperate tonight.

"To Arthur himself yes." The light was too dim to be sure, but Cassandra could have sworn she saw Jenkin's lips turn up into the faintest of smiles. "He did always prefer to have me close."

Cassandra was even more dumbstruck than before. Jenkins was actually sharing information about his past? All the redhead could do was stand there and listen.

"Can't tell you how many times he got into trouble and we had to bail him out." Jenkins chuckled before glancing down.

"We?"

"Arthur was close to all of us, not just as our king. He was one of the finest men I ever knew. But these are not all the knights, just twelve of the most well-known." Jenkins then proceeded to point out several of the names, some of which Cassandra recognized. Such as Sir Gawain and Sir Percival.

"What was Arthur like?" Cassandra felt a little like she was pushing her luck, but Jenkins seemed to be in a sharing mood.

"A lot like Colonel Baird actually. Always ready to take on responsibility, always willing to try his hardest to shield others. More stubborn than an angry minotaur." Jenkins explained, his eyes never left the golden armor but his voice betrayed the fondness for his fallen friend.

"That does sound like Baird.' Cassandra agreed, a grin of her own appearing.

But there was something that still nagged as Cassandra. The suit with the shroud over it, who was it? Furthermore, why was it covered at all?

"And who's that?" Cassandra didn't have to indicate which one she meant, Jenkins would have known she meant the covered armor.

"The traitor." Jenkins began. "Lancelot." There was something in Jenkins' words. A quiet unspoken feeling of betrayal. Cassandra herself had been on the receiving end of that from Jake before. "He may have been a traitor, but he was still one of us. A certain amount of respect is required, but that doesn't mean we have to like it."

It was one of the few things Baird had shared in the days following the loom. Dulaque's real name of Lancelot, and Jenkins real name of Galahad.

Cassandra had done research into the story of Camelot out of curiosity, but she hadn't expected the relationship between the two knights. But it did make some of Dulaque's actions make more sense. He had never went after the annex other than to reach the Loom of Fate, he never threatened Jenkins as far as Cassandra knew, and never fought their caretaker until Flynn tried to repair the Loom of Fate. Dulaque may have been many things, but he never wished harm on his own son.

"Something to take away Miss Cillian." Jenkins turned toward the redhead. "Camelot was fated to fall. No kingdom, no empire, lasts forever. Everything ends eventually, merely a matter of time. But what matters is how the time given is used." In that moment, Jenkins sounded every bit of the many centuries that made up his age. "Arthur had a lot he felt was unfinished. But in the end, he did what he could with what he had."

Jenkins' words struck a chord in Cassandra herself. It was scary how closely his last words applied to her own situation and life. That feeling of being on limited time… she knew that one all too well.

A yawn snuck its way out from Cassandra, reminding her just how late it was. Not to mention she hadn't a clue how long she'd spent wandering amongst the shelves of the Library.

"I should probably be getting home." Cassandra didn't feel the need to hurry out of the room as fast as she'd tried earlier. "Night Jenkins."

"Sleep well, Cassandra." Jenkins offered another kind smile as the redhead departed.

Once outside, Cassandra's curiosity once again reared its ugly head. Instead of leaving, she ducked out among the nearby shelves until Jenkins emerged.

The old caretaker stepped into the open and turned to once more look into the room. "The world is in good hands old friend. You and the others would be proud."

With that, Jenkins closed the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was going to be chapter 3 or 4, but I liked the idea too much and did it now. I also felt that out of all of them, it would be Cassandra Jenkins would open up to.
> 
> I have a few more ideas left, but suggestions are still very much welcome. Reviews and comments even more so.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a couple ideas for a few more scenes, but I would really love to hear any suggestions from my readers. Review and let me know what you all think please.


End file.
